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Bulletin
In addition, a Hamas leader was killed by a bomb planted a few months ago. Here’s the latest one from the end of Thursday.
By Matthieu Cullen
A prisoner swap involving seven countries freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, two Americans and several Russian opposition figures. This is the most in-depth exchange between Russia and the West in decades.
In exchange, Western governments freed eight people, including Vadim Krasikov, sentenced to life in prison in Germany for the murder of a Chechen veteran in Berlin. The exchange took place today at the foreign airport in Ankara, the Turkish capital, and affected seven. The planes were carrying 24 criminals from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to welcome the released Americans tonight at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “Their brutal ordeal is over and they are free,” said Biden, who welcomed the agreement.
The exchange was also something of a triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had long called for Krasikov’s release. Russia legally allows other people it accuses of extremism to be killed abroad,” said my colleague Neil MacFarquhar. “So, in the eyes of the Kremlin, Krasikov’s assassination in Berlin of a Chechen separatist leader whom Russia classified as a legitimate terrorist,” he said.
Gershkovich was detained as a Russian criminal for 16 months on espionage charges that the United States deemed politically motivated. Russia also released Paul Whelan, a former U. S. Marine, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American publisher. Here’s what we know about everyone involved in the exchange.
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